Sunday, 14 May 2017

Inspirational Landscapes - translated thanks to an RGS grant award

Good news earlier this week, as I heard that Peter Knight of Keele University and I are the recipients of a Royal Geographical Society Innovative Geography Teaching Grant to fund a joint project exploring landscapes and Changing Places.

Here's a bit of text from the application document that I put together.Title of project:

Inspirational Places: Changing Places

'A’ level teachers are currently teaching new exam specifications for the first time. The addition of ‘new’ areas including Global Governance has caused some concern. One area frequently included in requests for support on online forums and Facebook support groups is the Changing Places topic. I worked on a chapter in the CUP ‘A’ level textbook on this topic, and enjoyed revisiting themes first introduced in the OCR Pilot GCSE course.
For some years, Dr. Peter Knight teaches a unit called ‘Inspirational Landscapes’ as a third year undergraduate module (level 6) as part of the BA and BSc Hons Geography degree pathways at Keele University. This introduces students to creative ways of interpreting, and (re)presenting place, with parallels to ideas on the new specifications. It is mentioned in this ‘Geographical’ article: http://geographical.co.uk/uk/uk/item/941-geographys-unique-appeal

Both applicants have a long-standing interest in work connecting academic and school geography contexts. The grant would provide an opportunity for them to team up.
The proposed output would be online resources to support teachers in their understanding of key themes in Changing Places, provide them with practical strategies and resources for teaching, and offer a bibliography of additional reading and resources for exploration and research.

Progress will be reported here, and over on LivingGeography as it takes shape.